I was born at 3:47pm on Sunday, September 30th, 1956 at Metropolitan Hospital on 2nd & Race streets. I weighed 6lbs and 6ozs. Half a century later, I'm a 6'4" tall native Philadelphian, uprooted and replanted in El Paso, Texas.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Gonna See a Lady 'Bout a Dog

This is Copper. She's at the Pet Haven animal shelter here, though I saw her somewhere on the net. She's described as a shy girl, born in January '05.

I'm on my way to the shelter to check her out.

She's a pit bull terrier. I've heard all the stupidity about them. I know people fight them and abuse them otherwise. But I've never met a pit bull who didn't give me all the affection I could deal with from a dog!

They say she's shy, probably from being mistreated. I'm hoping to make her feel better. I guess I'm a little nervous, since my apartment complex says I can only get a "small" dog. My old dog comes to mind, a West Highland White Terrier named Princess. But Helga, the first lady I spoke to about Copper, says she is a small dog, mainly because she was malnourished. Besides, I've never seen any small dogs around here! So I'm gonna take a chance and see if I can adopt her.

I have to get there by 11am!

Update: I'm disappointed. She's a beautiful dog, but she's beyond shy. She cowered at the sight of me. Amber, who volunteers at the shelter along with her sister Sarah and their mother Sandy, worked with her and I for nearly two hours, to no avail. My darling Copper has been abused not only by whoever owned her before, but by some pervert who used to volunteer there and was caught abusing the dogs. I used to wonder about people like that, now I just want them gone.

So, in all likelihood, Copper will never have another male owner. She is so traumatized that she spent most of her time watching where I was and turning her face away from me. Each time Amber gave me the leash, Copper would run as far away as she could. So I don't think we'll get to be a family... they said they'll work on her social skills, but I'm not optimistic.

PS: I'll give you the full skinny on the angiogram adventures, but not right now, okay? The main reason is that it isn't over yet: my cardiologist now wants me to have a cardiac angiogram. So one night soon, I'll spill my guts. Thanks for your patience.

This post made me so sad, but also angry. I got a lot of verbal abuse when I did a sponsored walk for our local pet rescue centre. Many people found us weird saying we shouldn't care so much about animals - but it isn't the animals that make the bombs and guns.